Stoops' Sooners ended last season with a 45-31 victory over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and found it paid immediate dividends. Three prospects committed within a week of the win, including the Sooners' only five-star signee in the 2014 class, Oakley (Calif.) Freedom running back Joe Mixon.

"It meant a lot; it did," Mixon told 247Sports of the Sugar Bowl win. "Once they won the Alabama game, that shut the deal. Now I'm a Sooner. Let's get it!"

The Sooners finished strong in the final two months of recruiting, landing 10 more prospects in a class that ranked No. 10 in the country according to 247Sports. Speaking at Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday, Stoops said the Sugar Bowl win was a catalyst.

Now, he's anxious to see how much its momentum will carry over into this fall.

"I think that really did give us a boost in the last week or two of recruiting," Stoops said. "And then it also, I think, as much as anything, it inspired our players to really to build on it in the winter in the way we trained, the way we went into spring and we had a fabulous summer -- one of the best. I've never seen my strength coach, Coach (Jerry) Schmidt, so happy because he can be hard to please and he's really elated at the way the guys have worked.

"So I think it's just really maybe our guys have built on it in a positive way, just the chemistry and their willingness to work when they see the benefits of it like that."

Oklahoma, expected to be among the top national contenders in 2014, opens the season at home against Louisiana Tech on Aug. 30.